Carbon fiber-reinforced cement as a strain-sensing coating

Cement paste containing short carbon fibers was found to be an effective st rain-sensing coating. The coating (with fibers) was on either the tension s ide or the compression side of a cement specimen (without fiber) under flex ure. The resistance was measured with surface electrical contacts on either side. The resistance increased reversibly on the tension side upon loading and decreased reversibly on the compression side upon loading. The behavio r was similar whether the strain-sensing coating contained silica fume or l atex. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.